Windows Phone Leaf: A concept to improve the user interface

By Rich Edmonds
published

A concept, created by recent French graduate Ferid, has been published online. The concept goes into some detail about possible improvements that could be implemented to make it easier and more convenient for consumers to carry out standard tasks on a mobile phone. 

It's definitely worth checking out. One slide that caught my eye was an idea that our Daniel Rubino and I lightly touched on in London this week. Utilising the Windows logo on each device as the notification light, with pulsating or flashing animations to alert owners when notifications have been saved on the lock screen, etc.

WP Leaf Notification

Microsoft will be throwing in new features with its batch of updates, so it'll be interesting to see where the company takes its platform. We'll not cover each and every element from the resource, so be sure to head on over to MonWindowsPhone to check out all the slides - quick heads up: it's in French so have your translators on standby.

Source: MonWindowsPhone

Rich Edmonds
Rich Edmonds
Senior Editor, PC Build

Rich Edmonds was formerly a Senior Editor of PC hardware at Windows Central, covering everything related to PC components and NAS. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a PC chassis. You can follow him on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.

69 Comments
  • A lot of good ideas. I especially love his take on the notification center. 
    Though the website makes me wish I had paid more attention in French 1.
  • lol
  • If you use Internet Explorer, you can right click on the page and have it translate it to English for you.  Other browsers may do this as well.
  • This would be the one thing that really makes WP for me!!
  • What about the ativ s? It has no window light, its a physical button.
  • I would imagine most of the updates would require new hardware.
  • This. Doubt my Gen 1 hd7 would be able to use the notification light idea. It does flash the charger led when I have a missed call, but that's it.
  • Also Nokia Lumia 520. It's capacitive touch buttons are not backlit.
  •  
    There are phones out there without Front Facing Cameras and NFC yet Windows Phone 8 still allows you to use them!  Just because an OEM made a hardware decision doesn't mean the other phones couldn't still use the feature.  It's not like the flashing Win Logo is the ONLY way to get to something.
  • I must say, I miss the notification light on my Nokia E72 :'(
  • Nokia used to call them breathing lights.
  • Thanks for the correction. It's been so long (not even a year, lol).
  • Me2 on my E7
  • I wanted that phone so bad. How sturdy was the slide-out keyboard mechanism? I heard it could cut a finger off, haha.
  • That keyboard was great! At first it took time to learn how to open it but it was really strong, fast and I really miss the sound and feel it gave.
  • Lets just hope MS gives us what WE want rather than what it thinks we want
  • Like FM radio?
  • yeah like custom sms that we should have gotten back in mango!
  • How's it going to know the difference?
  • yesterday i thought of a multitasking view in which instead of the background accent color, there would be a translucent extended current app view and an animated translucent background GIF for games.....this reminds me, there should be an option for GIF in live tiles
  • Lets first get a way to close apps in the multitask view first. :P
  • ^^ This ^^
  • Yes this! Or just explorer without having to go back page after page.
  • Why close apps if they are paused and don't use battery/processor time. I like them open for quick resume and fast switching.
  • We need a notification light on WinPhone
  • If the Windows button could be utilised in some fashion I'd be happy with that - like fading in and out or changing colour like BBs...
  • Id be happy with fade in/out!
  • Yes! The Windows logo must be utilized for notifications!
  • It will also look cool
  • I'm not impressed by most of these ideas. All they'd result in is more clutter and confusion. While I like live tiles I don't think they should be doing it all for me. I already dislike that some apps spam too much information onto their tiles and don't give me the option to reduce the amount of info I'm exposed to. The rest of those ideas are fairly obvious ideas that we've already discussed endlessly. And even then I think there are generally better implementations than those shown there. It's not that I mean to be hard on the guy. It's awesome that he tried and that he's putting his work out there for everyone to see.
  • I agree with you. As I was looking at the slides, I kept thinking that the ideas presented were trying to make live tiles more like widgets essentially making WP more like Android. The calendar tile he presents, although it makes the calendar more accessible, makes the home screen cluttered (I know can be optional). And rather than a live tile that controls radio functionality, just make the lock screen bar better. I do have to say though, I really like the notification light idea.
  • I hate concepts, they just make me overexcited when I see them and disappointed when they never come true. Here's a concept: "Windows Phone" how about a phone that is more like a window than a slab of tech.
  • I like the playing music from the live tile. Also, the notification light is something that I miss from my BlackBerry...however, if they do implement it, I hope they do it in an effective manner like have an option to allow repeat notification alerts until you acknowledge it, otherwise if its just once it won't be any different from toast notifications.
  • I think that the notification light is supported.  My old HTC HD7 had a red notification light.  It must be up to the hardware manufacturer.
  • The HD7 light is green and orange... Orange when charging / slowly pulsing when low power. Green when full charged (still on charge) and pulsing when you have a missed call. It would be good if this could be extended for messages or apps you nominate in WP8 (i.e. the ones on the lockscreen)
  • Interactive live tiles. This needs to happen!
  • No. I don't want my phone to look like Android.
  • I like the ideas a lot, think some of the visuals could be tweaked. The sliders should be round instead of rectangular for one.
  • This looks awesome be sweet if this happens
  • these concepts always have separate screens for the notification center. did everyone forget there is already a me tile. all they have to do is add more things to the me tile.
  • "Me" tile needs to be redesigned. It have less functionality than clients, so it's nearly useless, because everyone uses clients instead.
  • +1... why re-invent the wheel ... just use what's there and improve on it.
  • Been saying this for a while now. But too many people develop forms of "OS envy", and want WP to not only have/do what the others do, but to be just like them. No bueno. I'm (almost) all for things like NC's, but it has to be ENTIRELY WP. No 'pull down shades', extra screens, 3rd panels. etc.
  • I really like the look of the quick settings and notifications. The separation if the ringer and vibe setting in the volume control pop up would be killer. That has to be the most annoying thing for me. Almost makes me want to resurrect my Blackjack II ;-)
  • It is annoying, no doubt. A part of my energy, everyday, is dedicated to making sure my ringer volume is at an appropriate level after my son plays game or listen to music. Another real pain in the rear is the lack of automated sound profiles. Everyday I call my other son after class and he doesn't answer because he's turned his ringer off during class and forget to turn it on afterwards. Why isn't there automated sound profile based on time of day or on calendar status? It's a smartphone after all, so why isn't my ringer automatically turned off when my calendar indicate I'm in a meeting? I had these capabilities on Windows Mobile. I will never understand how they make decisions on what features to leave in and what to leave out, what's important to users and what's not.
  • +1
    The way WP handles volume controls is nothing short of embarrassing. And mystifiying - it has been a major complaint for a LONG time now.
  • It really surprised me when I first started seeing info on WP 7 that they did not include more advanced audio controls. That is one thing I loved about my Blackjack II. Still did not stop me from buying a Focus :P
  • Radiohead Fan? :)
  • Yep ;-)
  • I've seen so many good notification center ideas. I still don't get why there wasn't one initially.
  • There is one.
  • SNL? lol
  • Concept looks great! Let's hope that the 8.1 update at the end of this year/beginning of next, has a lot of major stuff.
  • Notification bar and Music Live Tile was wonderful...
  • both notifcation center and music tile looks ugly to me
  • I miss the arrow keys on my old soft keyboard from HTC on the Touch Pro 2. I'd take those and a dedicated number row to not have to switch to the alternate layout for numbers. And better yet through in the physical slide out keyboard from that phone...it was the best ever!
  • Yeah, arrow keys are sorely missed. It's virtually impossible sometimes to edit longer sections of text for example without using arrow keys. Don't know what they were thinking there.
  • Like someone said above, it all sounds kinda cool when someone throws a couple of ideas, the problem is they are not designing a user interface personalised, and everyone seems to want something different, and cluttering the o.s. is a serious problem. I rather hear the whining.
  • Precisely! That happens way too much. People want what they see on android phones, and android in and of it's self is sloppy! Just because apple was unoriginal to copy them doesn't mean MS should.
    Pass!
  • Yep. Overall, I don't think that this was that impressive. Most has been discussed in this very forum ad nauseum. But it's good to have the discussion out there, and nice to see someone make an effort to at least create some mockups. Some things, like arrow keys and a Windows logo notification light, are features that have been bandied about for years but are (rather inexplicably if you ask me) ignored.
  • Completely agree with this last post.
  • Great idea.. Notification light would be awesome.
  • Those arrow keys are hideous. Out of all the new design mock ups, this is my least favorite.
  • I've seen lots of great ideas on here; too bad MS will never impliment them or pay any mind to our ideas at all.
  • Microsoft has theirvsuggestion box. Worth a look. Only problem is that they seem to have a long turnover time before ideas are seen put into reality.
  • They need to take a page from Nokia and listen promptly to what their end users request.
  • Can someone please tell me why WP HTC 8x on Verizon does not have group texting??? I'm this close to switching to iPhone.
  • Its probably disabled by your carrier, or if you want to make sure open messaging then press the "..." hit settings and check the group messaging toggle
  • That really awesome, if something like dis can be implemented in Windows Phone...